Trail Events

On October 10, 2008, Eastcoast JK members finally got a chance to show the westcoast what wheeling really is at the Raush Creek Offroad Park in Tremont, PA. Sponsored by 4WD Hardware, the Project-JK’s Eastcoast JKFest was the first of it’s kind outside of California and without a doubt, it was clearly the biggest ever or anywhere!

Back in December of last year, a member of JK-Forum.com started a thread that showed photos of him doing a run up Bronco Peak in his new Jeep JK Wrangler 2-Door Sahara. At the time, he was riding on little more than a budget boost and 33″ tires and although he was able to make it through with some effort, it was his belief that it simply couldn’t be done in a 4-Door Unlimited. Of course, upon hearing this, I knew Bronco Peak was a run that I would have to do in my Rubicon Unlimited and do as soon as I could. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be until last weekend that I would finally get my chance but I am glad that I finally did.

Located deep in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near the Sonora Pass, Niagara Rim is a beautiful trail that Cindy and I had been wanting to run for quite some time now but always found it logistically difficult to do. Certainly, it’s quite a haul to get to from our home down in Southern California and it’s even quite the trek from South Lake Tahoe where we normally spend a good part of our summers. And, being that Niagara Rim is a ‘difficult’ rated trail, it’s also one that we preferred not to do alone and finding friends who could join us out in this remote location had proven to be somewhat of a challenge. Needless to say, when we announced that we would be doing a run/camping trip out on this trail about a month ago over on JK-Forum.com, we weren’t sure what to expect and had no idea of who if anyone would be able come along. Of course, what we hadn’t taken into consideration was the fact that just about every planned run on JK-Forum.com has a way of getting people to come out of the woodwork and this trip was no exception to the rule. Much to my surprise, when all was said and done, we were able to get a total of 10 Jeep JK Wranglers coming from all over Northern and Southern California to join us.

In addition to its spectacular beauty and rich history, there is a reason why the Rubicon is legendary and considered to be the Mecca of all Jeep trails. Without a doubt, the Rubicon is by far one of the most challenging and demanding 17 miles of trail that you can possibly run. The countless boulders, ledges, trees, water crossings, mud, tippy rock faces and tight squeezes that you encounter along its entire length are relentless and determined to break you down both mentally and physically. Certainly, the Rubicon is not a trail for the faint of heart or the squimish as breakdowns, rollovers and body damage is the norm and is to be expected. And, if you’re feeling the call that all Jeepers feel deep inside their hearts of running the Rubicon someday, I would highly recommend that you do it with the Jeepers Jamboree.

To celebrate the kids getting out of school for the summer, the doojers, WOLette and I decided to make a 3 day trek up the good ol’ 395. Leaving on Wednesday night, we met up with the doojers in Culver City and made our way to Lone Pine where we stayed the night with the hopes of getting a fresh and early start in the morning.

Our latest YouTube video addition highlights a trail run that we did up Odessa Canyon back in September and as our good friend Jennifer (aka – toad) can be quoted as saying, it truly was “a 5-SCREAM run!” As you’ll see, this trail required a lot of low range work as well as a fair amount of winching and strapping in order for us to climb up and over the myriad of boulders and dry falls we encountered along the way…

Of all the trips that we’ve gone on this year, I’d have to say that this was by far the mother of all last minute runs. In fact, I don’t think any of us had any idea as to where we might be going – if we were going, until the Friday before and even then, nobody had a clue as to what the plan was until close to 10:00 PM that night.

After seeing some of the amazing photos that our very own JK-Forum member (JKTyrant) took while vacationing up in Hume Lake, California, we decided that a trip up there was needed in order for us to see this awesome scenery for ourselves.